The Government has a long way to go to ensure councils are not constrained by prescriptive regulation enforcement, according to Local Authorities Co-ordinators of Regulatory Services (LACORS). Responding to the Rogers review, LACORS executive director, Derek Allen, said: ‘We welcome the findings in Peter Rogers' report. ‘They reflect widely-held concerns that the Government has, up until now, set too many priorities for council regulatory services. ‘However, the Government still has a long way to go to ensure that these priorities are outcome-focused, and not so prescriptive that they constrain councils' ability to be innovative and creative in their service delivery.' Peter Rogers, chief executive of Westminster City Council, published a review of local regulatory enforcement last week. The recommendations were accepted by the chancellor in the Budget. The review recommended five national priorities for local authority enforcement of regulation. These are – air quality, alcohol, entertainment and late night refreshment licensing, food hygiene in businesses, workplace health and fair trading. Priorities were picked from 61 policy areas, based on evidence of risk to the public.
